AKINI JING ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘VILLAIN’
RELEASES LEAD SINGLE
‘CALL ME SHADOW’
OUT NOW VIA 88RISING
Multidimensional creator and performing artist Akini Jing announces her new album, VILLAIN, and releases the lead single from the record, ‘Call Me Shadow’, out now via 88rising. VILLAIN is set for release in early 2024.
On ‘Call Me Shadow’, Akini Jing fuses electronica with pop – as well as eliciting traditional Chinese sonic motifs – to create a truly unique sound that captivates its listener. At the track’s core is a dichotomy between Akini Jing’s sumptuous vocals and a hard techno beat. Effortlessly shifting between English and Mandarin, the vocals adorn the track with ethereal aesthetics, while its invigorating beat drives the track forward and provides it with a club-like quality.
Speaking about her upcoming album VILLAIN and the new single ‘Call Me Shadow’, Akini Jing said: “‘Call Me Shadow’ and all the songs on my VILLAIN album are heavily inspired by the Chinese genre of Wuxia. The aesthetic influence is obvious, but what really drew me to Wuxia is the nature of the characters – they are people who are devoted to, and live by, very high ideals. But at the same time, they are constantly limited by their own humanness. For one reason or another, both heroes and villains find themselves falling short or getting distracted from their goals. Aren’t we the same? Our spirit may be high but our lives can be low. This is the essence of ‘jianghu’, which is a Chinese word that describes people on the fringe of society, who live by their own code.
I was fascinated by this tension between ideals and reality and wanted to find a way to express this centuries-old genre in a new way. The result is an interesting combination of traditional Chinese instruments with electronic sub genres such as techno, two-step, and deconstructed club, which I think represents the Chinese underground scene as it is today.”
Over the past ten years, Akini Jing operated under the name “Jingxi Zhu” and found success writing chart-topping pop hits for multiple artists. Then, in 2019 she introduced her new alias, “Akini Jing”, a cyborg identity that fuses technology with Chinese ancestry. Notably, Akini Jing’s work is highly influenced by the cinematic world of martial art films, known as Wuxia.
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